Agreed. Whenever I return to this story I’m always astounded at rereading that part of the story (even though I know it’s coming). I’m also surprised it isn’t given more weighting.
Surely it’s the biggest reddest flag in all the evidence and underemphasised purely because of the political implications of a murderous pilot.
The main question about it in my mind is one for aviation experts … why would any pilot plot and practice that course? Is there any possible motivation other than wanting to crash a plane in the middle of nowhere?
Because if not, it’s almost a closed, albeit morbid and troubling case and the rest would be details.
It also raises interesting questions about the importance of pilot mental health that are maybe uncomfortable for the industry, in addition to the fact that aviation tech could still completely lose a plane.